Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Theories of Nationalism

Abstract. This article reviews some psychological and psychoanalytic social theories to see what they have to offer in terms of an understanding of nations and nationalism. Three approaches are reviewed in turn: discursive psychology, the psychoanalytic work of Theodor Adomo and the Lacanianism of Slavoj Zizek. In critically analysing and drawing on these varied perspectives it is argued that we need to develop a theory of nationalism that focuses on the production of the national ‘subject’. It 0069s further argued that this theorisation enables us to relate nationalism to wider questions of ideology and political identity in modern societies. Drawing out the contours of such a theory the article intimates the sorts of research directions in which this might lead.